


Strings Attached

by Superbeans



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Genre: Alcoholic Axel, Alcoholism, Coffee Shop, Crossover, Disney, Gen, Guitar Battle, Laika, Shamisen, Sitar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 09:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8973403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superbeans/pseuds/Superbeans
Summary: It all started off as a routine morning for Demyx. Debrief from the latest Organisation XIII meeting, grab a bite with Axel, then return to Hollow Bastion and be on lookout for that dumb kid with the keyblade.So how did he end up fighting for his life in feudal Japan?Hell, nobody knows.





	1. Chapter 1

"So," 

He took a lengthy draught from his hazelnut mocha...something, leaving a perfect foamy moustache coating his top lip.

"Remember anything from that meeting?"

"Err..." Demyx scratched his head. "Something about a kid, Vexen looked hungover, stay away from Larxene?"

"Damn straight," Axel propped his feet on the spare stool. "So I take it you weren't listening again?"

Demyx sighed into his milkshake. "...sorry. It's just, hard to concentrate with all those other guys glaring at me. Y'know?"

"Just don't let 'em get to you, Dem," Axel shook his head fondly. Inhaling more coffee, he chuckled. "They're like dogs; they can smell fear. And you, buddy, are dripping of it."

"I can't help that..." Demyx twirled the straw around in his milkshake. "I just don't like all this confrontation, alright?"

"Gotta be done," Axel shrugged. He tore off a section of some crescent shaped pastry thing, and nibbled at it slowly.

"Ehh, I guess..." Demyx drained a third of his shake. "So, why're we here? Bit random to go get coffee, ain't it?"

"You looked like you needed a breather," Axel smiled. "And it's not like we're short on time. If we're gonna wait somewhere, might as well wait somewhere that serves food."

And without warning, Axel emptied his drink - why were they serving them in potion vials again? - and then rattled it at the nearest person in uniform.

"Oh, Pennyyyy! A top up, if you would?"

"...you know the staff on first name basis?" Demyx gawked at him.

"Know us? He practically lives here." The blonde waitress chuckled.

"Remember that week I was away 'on business in Galbadia," Axel flexed his index and middle fingers. "All here. I don't think I left this table, matter of fact."

The waitress shook her head fondly. "Another Chococcino, Ax? With or without the scotch this time?"

"Surprise me," Axel batted his eyelashes up at her. "What about you Dem? Another wuss drink?"

"Heyyy, no fair..." Demyx groaned. "I can't help it if I like milkshakes, alright?"

"Of the two of you, I'd say his taste in drinks is the less weird one," Penny the waitress offered a shrug. "Just... putting that out there."

"Pff, as if," Axel scoffed. "Better grab us a Cosmo Candle while you're there then. Don't worry Dem, _I'll_ drink your share..."

"Uh-huh," Penny frowned. "Sit tight Ax, I'll be back with your booze in a few."

"Thank ya Penelly," Axel twirled back into his seat. "Anyway Dem, you gotta start drinkin' harder stuff. Trust me, it'll make things a lot easier. Specially those meetings."

"I dunno Axel..." Demyx muttered. "How're we gonna do our jobs properly if we're in a drunken stupor?"

"Hah! Bein' able to hide it's the best part!" Axel cackled. "Hey Penny! I look sober, right?"

"Nope!" Came the resounding reply.

"Ehh, she just knows otherwise," Axel brushed her off. "Anyway, hold that thought."

"What thought?"

"Precisely," Axel staggered to his feet. "I'm hittin' the can. You stay right there, an' I'll be back in a minute. Got it?"

Demyx just offered him a meek smile. And as Axel stumbled off towards the restroom, the blonde was left alone with his thoughts.

How could he prove to the others that he wasn't just a waste of time? Not just some 'nutsack', to use Larxene's colourful wording, with a sitar?

It was a bit depressing, to say the least. Only a handful of so-called 'nobodies' in this world, and most of them seemed to hate him.

Demyx sighed. The darker his thoughts became, the less he noticed the swirling vortex behind him.

A moment of ignorance and a slip of his chair was all it took.

"What the? WHOA-OA!" He flailed. But before anyone could take notice, Demyx and his chair had been swallowed up by the vortex, and lost to the world...


	2. Chapter 2

"Ungh..."

His neck was sore. Why was it sore?

And why were his arms tied?

Could've at least given him a chair.

"Where am I?"

He blinked his heavy eyes, and tried to look around. Every joint he possessed hurt, but from what he could make out, he'd somehow been transported to a small, old timey village. 

"Alright, whose idea was this?" Demyx forced a laugh. If he was getting hazed in some weird initiation ritual, then he could at least guarantee he wouldn't be in too much danger.

"Larxene? Vexen? This your doing?" He continued to ask no one. There was a dim hope that one of the organisation's two biggest sadists would pop up out of the shadows and tease him for a bit, but alas they never came.

Nor did Lexaeus.

Or Xaldin.

Or even Axel. Just what was going on h-

"State your name, cloaked one!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, a small yet commanding voice barked. At least someone showed up.

Demyx shook himself back to reality to meet with the gaze of a young boy.

"Hunh? Who're you?" Demyx grunted.

Ten, maybe twelve years old at the most, this little boy seemed perfectly unassuming at first. But in the split second it took for Demyx's exhausted mind to register a movement, the boy had already drawn a spear, and held it prone.

"You will speak with respect, or not at all!" The boy warned, spear looming ever closer. "Now, I'll ask just once more. State your name!"

The blonde sighed. "...Demyx."

"You have travelled from afar?" The boy inferred.

"I dunno, yes?" Demyx groaned. "Look, can you untie me so we can discuss this properly?"

He received a whack on the head as payment. "Oww!"

"You will speak when spoken to!" The boy glared. He shifted dark hair from his eye, and took in a deep breath. "...you are a threat to us?"

"...was that a question?" Demyx grimaced. "Look, I don't even know where I am, how I got here, who you are, what that thing is, or anything! Why would I attack you?!"

"Attack?" The boy drew himself up. "Who said attack?"

Crap.

"Uh oh..." Demyx muttered under his breath. "Oh c'mon, how else do you threaten someone?!"

"Perhaps you were a thief?" The boy began pacing. "I had assumed this at first, given your clothes. But no! You said you would _attack_ us!"

"Oh, hang on a sec, I never said I _would_!" Demyx pleaded. "I-I said the wrong thing, alright?!"

"Finally. You speak some truth." The boy scoffed. "Perhaps you'll say the right thing in a few days."

"Few-few days?!" Demyx gasped. "Oh man, seriously?! How am I gonna eat with my hands tied like this?!"

"Eat?" The boy narrowed his one eye. "I would consider that a luxury, if I were you."

The boy paced closer to Demyx. "If I were honest, I would suggest you _blink_ , only when you have to."

"You're not very good at this interrogation thing." Demyx deadpanned.

"And you, are not good at surviving." The boy countered immediately. "I am Kubo, and you will remember me in a week or so. Maybe then I will feed you."

 _'A week?!'_ Demyx mouthed. "Oh, to hell with this."

With a pained grunt, Demyx summoned his sitar. The ropes binding his hands snapped, and he staggered back to his feet, his stringed companion in hand.

"H-how?!" The boy named Kubo gasped, but didn't have time to react to Demyx's "Dance, water dance!"

With a pair of chords, Demyx struck a heavy blow, hitting Kubo with a wave materialised from nowhere, followed by a second. Kubo smashed into the wall behind them, and Demyx wasted only a moment, to make sure the boy was still breathing. And then he bolted.

Down pathways and between houses he ran, terrifying locals with each corner he took. Where the hell was he even going? Where was this place? And how did he get back? He still had half a milkshake left!

"Halt!" 

Demyx scrabbled to a stop, only to find Kubo barring his path.

"What the?!" Demyx gawped. "How'd you get there so quick?!"

"Get here?" The boy smirked. Sweeping soaked fair from his face, he gestured to his left, and Demyx could only groan.

He'd gone around in a circle.

"...well then!" Demyx clapped his hands together. "I'll... I'll just, be going now."

"Tread carefully, fool," Kubo's voice was heavy and threatening. Demyx barely paid heed to the boy's words, but the very sharp thing got his attention pretty quickly!

"Nnch?!" Demyx flailed backwards, as what looked like a needle swished past his vision. It missed his face by millimetres, and embedded itself in the nearby tree.

"E-heh...!" Demyx gulped, and glanced back at his assailant. The young boy had procured, seemingly from nowhere, a stringed instrument not unlike his own. Much more old-timey though, and it looked home made.

"I see you understand the gravity of your situation at last," Kubo narrowed his eyes. "If you care to escape, I won't stop you from trying. But don't worry; the next one won't miss."

"Oh geez," Demyx sighed. "Look, I don't want any trouble, alright? I just wanna get outta here, and back to where I came from! Is that too much to ask?"

"Ever since you insulted my honour?" Kubo was no longer smiling. "Yes. Yes it is."

Oh, crap.

"So prepare yourself, demon!" Kubo threatened, picking fingers at the ready. "If you must blink... do it now!"

"Look, I don't wanna - WHOA!" Demyx began, however he was forced to take quick action as more razor sharp needles were fired at him. 

And his sitar took the brunt of it all.

The young man whimpered as he plucked one needle from his sitar's once flawless finish. Now sporting a hairline fracture right across the body, it was clear a coat of polish wasn't going to cut it this time.

But what was he doing, thinking? This was the time to react!

"Whoa, shi-" He gasped, backflipping away to avoid more needles. Kubo simply plucked lazily at his strings, as if he were barely even invested in the situation. Demyx however was forced to play the evasion game, swerving back and forth to avoid Kubo's little painful darts. But when one grazed his cheek, chiselling its way into tender flesh...

Kubo's eyes flashed.

"Alright, that's it!" Demyx seethed. With a lightning quick movement, he churned out a chord from his sitar, and then another one the other way. Two enormous mounds of water rose from nothing, and swirled around the young man. Kubo's needles were quick, but the water left them completely immobile.

"Hmm...?" Kubo sneered, and his note picking increased in tempo. Jumping from a lazy largo to an aggressive allegro, the boy's summoned artillery had grown drastically.

And it wasn't just needles any more, either. Much larger objects had begun to emerge, penetrating farther into Demyx's water shields, and soaking them up. Meanwhile the needles were still present, daring to pierce through at any given moment.

"Hah, this is nothin'!" Demyx taunted. "I can just keep rebuilding! You'll never get through!"

"Oh?" Kubo didn't miss a beat. His playing was still aggressive, yet something seemed amiss. 

"Yeah! So just you learn to be-" Demyx began, but why was it getting so dark? It wasn't night time yet, was it?

Demyx glanced up just in time.

"Son of a-!" He squeaked, and barrel rolled out of the way as an enormous _boulder_ crashed down upon where he would've been!

His water shields were absorbed by the giant boulder, which quickly turned to mush, and Demyx was immediately barraged by all manner of tiny projectiles, ranging from needles to small, golf ball sized pellets to... birds?

Not the time to question why!

"Urgh..." Demyx grunted. Ignoring the searing pain the best he could, he focused, and encased himself once again. However, this shield wasn't one of water.

"...Ice?" Kubo muttered. "Foolish. You'll freeze in-"

But then the ice shield splintered open, sending shards everywhere!

"Ragh!" Demyx groaned, and fell to one knee. He'd suffered many cuts, and his poor sitar had certainly seen better days, but with Kubo pinned up against the wall by his icicles, maybe _now_ the fiend was detained?

"L-look...!" Demyx gasped, staggering over towards the boy. "Can we stop this now? Enough with your paper tricks, alright?"

Demyx held out a hand. "You fought honour-"

But Kubo was laughing. Why was he laughing?

"AHAH-HAH-HAH!" The boy cackled, in a fashion far too boisterous to be 'honourable'. "It's a little warm, isn't it?!"

Demyx's eyes widened. Even as Kubo spoke, the icicles that had him bound were quickly melting, giving him mere seconds to-

"Well then I'd better cool you off!" Demyx sprung into action. There was no time to be proud of the joke, because who knew what this boy was capable of?

Another strum from _Arpeggio_ had an enormous torrent of water launched at Kubo. The boy was quickly engulfed by Demyx's waves, and the water level continued to rise...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy February everyone. A wee update for you all. Hope it meets approval!
> 
> As for the ice, I know it's Vexen's thing, but seeing as KH2 classifies Ice and Water as the same element, I figured I'd abuse a loophole.


	3. Chapter 3

He was safe, at least for the time being. Sitar at the ready, he'd propped himself on the roof of some shack, very safe and high up, and his enemy Kubo remained submerged under the flood of water he had just launched. So Demyx was allowed to breathe a sigh of relief at long last.

But of course, that relief had to go on the back burner for just now. Anxiety was still in charge.

"Please don't fight back..." he grimaced, really _not_ wanting another bout with this fiend. Lexaeus will be _glad_ to know how that size and power aren't always linked.

And yet the boy hadn't surfaced. Demyx gulped.

"Please don't be dead..." he whimpered, casting his wary gaze into the murky depths of his own summoning. As annoying as this Kubo proved to be, Demyx _really_ didn't want to be responsible for the death of a kid. At least not _this_ kid.

The one Axel kept fawning over? Sure!

But this kid hadn't done anything to deserve death!

He wasn't a bad kid really! Just annoying and grumpy, and a bit too territorial and-

*fsh!*

Alive!

Kubo leapt from the freezing water, and absolute sopping mess.

"You," the boy gasped, his remaining strength spent between breathing, angry pointing, and a surprisingly un-intimidating glare.

"You do not fight with honour." Kubo spluttered. He wrenched himself into a standing position once again, and flung his long hair away from his face, only for it to complete the circuit and slap him on the other side.

"Y'know, I'd rather survive?" Demyx actually taunted the poor boy.

"Well then I suppose we will just have to _test_ those survival skills of yours!" Kubo challenged, and leapt into the air!

"Huh?!" Demyx gawped, wondering where exactly this fresh bout of energy had come from.

But once again' he was standing there thinking instead of attacking! Big mistake!

Kubo was no longer launching paper needles at Demyx, rather upgrading to spears instead. Each a couple of foot long and an inch or two thick, the spears cracked into nearby ground and walls as they scarcely missed the blonde recreant. Plumes of water were able to throw off their aim, however they were no less deadly whenever they impaled something. And what was worse, the boy could recycle them with the simple pluck of a string.

Demyx's athleticism was thankfully holding, however he made a mental note to eat less pizza and more red meat. For the stamina he was desperately running out of!

A dash around the corner of one house had three paper spear flash past him and embed themselves into a tree. Demyx's lungs were burning. He had to get back on the offensive, and fast!

Suddenly, a hand.

Demyx made the effort to move again, only to find it pinning him to where he stood.

"Oh, c'mon..." he gasped, with several failed attempts to wrench his leg free. "Of all the cheap moves..."

"It isn't nice when your opponent doesn't fight fair, is it?" A voice taunted from behind. Demyx twisted himself at an unholy angle to see the damned kid just standing there. Grinning.

"What other choice did I have?" Demyx panted. "You were gonna kill me anyway!"

"For trespassing in our village? I couldn't imagine why," the boy taunted once again. "However I will concede that you've impressed me. For that I'll grant you; any last words, demon?"

 

Kubo floated two more paper spears above him, poised and ready to launch. At least the boy was ready to do it quickly.

"Last words, huh?" A wry smile touched on Demyx's face. He didn't expect to be needing those so soon. "Well, I guess it can't be helped.

His lips tugged into a smirk. "Hello, from the other tide!"

A power chord escaped Demyx's guitar, and Kubo and his paper tricks were knocked sideways once again by an enormous customer column of water!

But Kubo barely even reacted to the tsunami however; this trick was clearly getting old.

"Time to mix things up a bit then!" Demyx spoke to no one. Another chord was struck, and Demyx spanned the entire width of his sitar summoning a huge whirlpool.

More quickly tapped out notes had the whirlpool rising above the water's surface into that of a giant water spout, with Kubo trapped inside of it!

"You were a fun fight, kid!" Demyx carried on talking to nobody in particular. "But I'm afraid this fight's over!"

Quickly struck bar chords summoned chunks of ice, which launched themselves at the waterspout and began freezing it from the bottom up.

Kubo remained trapped as the ice climbed higher, and with every successive strum, his chances of escaping were reduced. 

Demyx stopped strumming. Before him stood a towering cyclone of ice, pristine and glittering. 

"Not bad," he nodded slowly, and clicked his fingers. The entire ice column shattered instantly, sending the small boy inside of it plunging to the ground.

Kubo is the floor with a thud, and Demyx finally despawned his sitar. Behind him, a familiar dark vortex span into life.

"Best... two out of three?" Kubo coughed out a challenge.

Demyx winked. "Maybe."

And back through the vortex he went. With a gasp, he found himself back at the coffee house, even at the exact table he was sitting at beforehand.

Hell, his half a milkshake was still there!

"So anyway, as I was sayin'," Axel swaggered back into the situation. "You really gotta- huh? The hell happened to you?"

"Ehh?" Demyx frowned up at the redhead. However, it was then he realised how tattered he must've looked. Gaunt, torn clothes, probably bleeding...

"Man, I left you alone for like a minute, tops!" Axel somehow found the situation hilarious. "And we're in a coffee shop! How the hell did you get this beat up?!"

"...long story," was the closest thing Demyx had to an explanation.

"I'm listening," Axel folded his arms and smirked.

"Alright then, if you're sure..." Demyx sighed. "But first I need this filled with something more worth my time."

"Now you're talkin'!" Axel punched him on the shoulder. "Hey Penny! Come bring this man a real drink!"

"Coming right up!" Penny called from across the room.

"Right, okay then..." Demyx cracked his knuckles. "So yeah. Not long after you left, this weird vortex just opened up outta nowhere! And then next thing I knew I..."

**Author's Note:**

> After watching Kubo and the Two Strings, this needed done. Hope it meets approval. :D
> 
> (Also, alcoholic!Axel seemed like a fun idea to run with)


End file.
